The Coffee Can Wisdom of D&C 48 — Gathering, Saving, and Preparing
I remember the spring my wife and I decided to build a proper workbench in the garage. Not the plywood-on-sawhorses thing I had been using for years but a real one with hard maple top, through-tenons on the legs, and a vise that could hold a door frame steady. I spent three months saving for the lumber alone. Every extra shift and every side project went into a coffee can in the shop. I did not know exactly how I was going to build the bench yet but I knew I needed the wood first.
The saving turned out to be the easy part compared to not knowing where the bench would live. We were renting then. I would look at a wall and imagine the bench there but I did not own the wall, so I saved and kept the coffee can full and waited until we had our own place.
That memory came back when I read D&C 48. The section is short at only seven verses but it is packed with the kind of quiet instructions that do not make a lot of noise and make all the difference later.
And it is expedient in me that they should become equal in temporal things; nevertheless let them retain their own houses and lands until it shall be known what is to be done with them. (D&C 48:1, paraphrased)
The Saints had just been commanded to gather to Ohio. They were leaving their homes in the east, selling what they could carry and heading west on faith. Some had already reached Kirtland and more families were on the way. The question was not whether to gather but how to make it work.
What D&C 48 Teaches About the Gathering of the Saints
The revelation opens with an instruction that sounds almost backward for a gathering movement. Stay where you are and do not sell your houses because you are needed right where you stand.
You would expect the urgency to be immediate with everyone moving at once, but the Lord tells them to hold their ground. The reason is plain enough when you think about it. The Saints who already owned land in Ohio were the base of operations. The newcomers needed a place to land when they arrived, and if everybody sold their houses there would be nobody left to receive the migrating families. The existing households were not just residents. They were the landing party.
The quiet practicality of this instruction is worth sitting with. The gathering was a spiritual commandment with a spiritual promise attached, but the execution was logistical. Matching people who had land with people who needed it.
How to Apply the Law of Consecration in Modern Life
Verse 2 contains a word I keep coming back to. Impart.
And again, for the benefit of the church, and for the bringing to light of the work of the brethren from the east, let those who have their lands impart to those who have none. (D&C 48:2, paraphrased)
Impart means to share what you have with someone who needs it. Not a permanent transfer but a practical arrangement so arriving families had a place. The Saints in Ohio had property. The families coming from New York and Pennsylvania had sold their farms and arrived with cash but no land. They needed each other.
I think about this when I lend tools I am not using daily, like a hand plane I bought at an estate sale that I have used maybe three times. A neighbor needed to plane a door that was sticking, so I handed it over and he brought it back two days later with the blade sharpened. I did not lose anything and he got his door fixed. That is what impart looks like at ground level.
The principle shows up later in the Doctrine and Covenants as a formal law of consecration with administrative structure, but here it is just a direct command to share the land and make room for the people who are coming.
Why Did the Lord Command the Saints to Save Money in D&C 48
Then comes the instruction that stopped me the first time I read this section.
Wherefore, for this cause I said unto you, that ye might be left, that ye might be preserved, that ye might be kept in mind, that ye might be gathered together in the land of Zion, even the land of your inheritance, which I have appointed for you. (D&C 48:4, paraphrased)
The Lord tells them to save every dollar they can. Not for a building or a temple fund but for land where they would build a permanent city and worship in safety.
I appreciate the directness of the Lord telling people to save money as a spiritual instruction. The spiritual promise of gathering was real but the temporal mechanism was straightforward. The revelation does not spiritualize money into something mystical but treats it as a tool that can be used for righteous purposes when handled with discipline and integrity. Save money for land and then build a city. The command to save is paired with the command to do it righteously, with the goal being a community gathering place rather than personal wealth.
LDS Scripture on Saving Money and Righteousness
There is a tension in this chapter for anyone who grew up separating spiritual life from financial life. Prayer belongs in one category and budgeting belongs in another, but D&C 48 refuses to separate them. The Lord gives a revelation about salvation and in the middle of it He tells them to save their money.
I do not think that is because money is sacred in itself. I think it is because preparation is sacred. The Saints needed a city and cities cost money. The Lord could have provided the land miraculously and sometimes He does that, but in this case He asked them to do the temporal work while trusting Him with the timing.
The coffee can in my shop holds about two hundred dollars when it is full. That is not much for a workbench but it was the start. Putting money in the can was a statement of intent. I was not waiting for a bench to appear. I was getting ready for it.
How Early Saints Purchased Land in Ohio
The revelation ends with an instruction that might be the hardest one. The exact location of the city would not be revealed yet. Save and prepare and share, but do not build until the place is known.
And it shall be made known unto them, by the voice of the elders, how to purchase the land, and how to begin the city. (D&C 48:5, paraphrased)
They had to wait for the people to arrive before the location was shown. The destination came in stages through the gathering first followed by the sharing and the saving until finally the place was revealed. The blueprints came last and the preparation came first.
I think about this when I read how D&C 47 assigned John Whitmer the task of keeping the church record. That section is also short and practical with a record keeper appointed and a specific task assigned. The work was not dramatic but it was necessary. D&C 48 has the same feel. Nothing flashy. Just the quiet work of getting ready so something bigger can happen later.
I do not enjoy waiting for things I cannot see. I want the blueprints before I start cutting wood, but the blueprints come last sometimes. You gather the maple and sharpen the chisels and organize the shop, and then when the wood is ready and the tools are sharp the shape of what you are building becomes clear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Lord command the Saints to save money in D&C 48?
The Lord knew that establishing a permanent city would require purchasing land and that required money. The command to save was not about wealth for its own sake but about being temporally prepared to build the gathering place the Saints had been promised.
What does it mean to impart to the eastern brethren?
Impart means to share land and housing with the Church members migrating from the eastern United States to Ohio. The Saints who already owned property were told to share it with arriving families who had none. It was a direct application of charity and mutual support before the formal law of consecration was revealed.
Why was the city location kept hidden at first?
The Lord reveals information in stages when that is what the people need. The Saints had to gather first and then receive direction through appointed leaders based on the actual needs of the people who arrived.
How does D&C 48 apply to Latter-day Saints today?
The section shows that spiritual goals often require temporal preparation. Saving money, sharing resources with people in transition, and trusting the Lord's timing when the full plan is not yet visible are all practical applications of the principles in this revelation.
The workbench finally got built in the garage of the house we own now. The coffee can money covered the maple and the layout came together once I had the actual space to measure. I did not know where the bench would live when I started saving but the saving was not wasted. It was the first step of building something that needed to be built.
I think that is what D&C 48 is saying. The Lord will show you where when you are ready. The work now is to get ready.
-- D.